Sister Hannah Schoendorfer in Hungary: Another Great Week in Nyiregyhaza!

It's been another awesome week here. We lost Roberts Elder (he was transferred) so our district is a little different now that Lee Elder has joined us! He is from Orange County, CA and he's great. Jarrett Nővér and I are stocked to be staying together and we made a bunch of new goals together so it should be a very productive transfer. At gyüli est this week it was so fun for me to see how excited the branch members were about me staying. I have SO much love for the members here!

One of my favorite people that we talked to this week was a bácsi out in the middle of a really rural area where we were tracting. I don't know what it was about him, but as soon as we started talking to him I just felt like I had so much love for him! I think he must have had a stroke or something because his whole mouth didn't move when he talked and it was nearly impossible to understand him but I was able to bear simple testimony and he accepted a Book of Mormon. Sometimes I think about it, and the things we do are often just small actions but I really know that the work we are doing matters and that there are people here for me to help.

We met with Péter twice this past week and he is doing great! These next few months coming up are the busiest month for bee keepers so he is super busy but he is still really making great progress. He makes us dinner almost every time we go over because he says he just likes cooking and finds time to do it for us, so sweet! Also his wife, Angélla has been reading from the children's Book of Mormon to their kids, Viki and Peti, each night! She talked with us about how it is easier to understand and they love the stories. Angélla really is so supportive and a little bit more interested each time we visit. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to teach their family. They have really welcomed us in and I am so grateful that I am able to be there to help them draw closer to the Savior and feel His love for them. We read the Family Proclamation to the World with them this week and talked about eternal families and it was so amazing. Péter was so happy to hear that his family can live together forever and that his marriage can be an eternal one. The other evening when we visited, we talked about Lehi's dream and how it applies to us in our day. Sometimes it might feel like we are in a mist of darkness but our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the gospel is always there to guide us home.

We did a lot of work outside this week. We helped Sárika hoe her garden which is the biggest garden I have ever seen! It was a lot of work but also so fun! Later on the same day we went to another member's house, named Kornel. We helped paint a ton of boards again that he is using to make a fence. We also made lasagna from scratch with him which was awesome. Kornel is still basically building the house he is living in. He has little unfinished projects everywhere you look.

Also we met a girl in her 20s this week named Zsuzsa. She just came to English class and asked to meet with us the next day! We had a really awesome lesson with her and I am so excited to meet with her again.

While we were tracting the other day, we were standing at the very last apartment door of the buidling and while we were ringing the csengő, someone who was standing there waiting for the elevator told us, "a really old néni lives there," and sure enough, there she was - as Jarrett likes to say - in all her four foot glory. She was so tiny and cute! She quickly invited us in to tell us her life story. We read a scripture with her and she loved when we prayed and went on to tell us more stories. We nicely tried to leave, because we were already late to another lesson, but then she brought out the who-knows-how-old tin of cookies and some juice to slow us down. She told us more stories without delay and did everything to try and get us to stay. She was adorable and we felt so bad leaving but we finally made a polite escape. She told us to come back any time and read to her from our book.

We were able to go over to Valika's again this week and meet with Néomi, her cute granddaughter. We watched the restoration film with them which they loved and had a great talk. The whole time we were there, their dog, named Mimi, was laying by me with her head on my lap and even started snoring as I was petting her! So adorable! Valika was also so cute as she told me she had a feeling that I wasn't going to leave at the transfer. She said I just knew that you would stay a little longer, mostly because I was hoping you would. It was actually a really neat experience for me at Valika's because as I shared my testimony about Joseph Smith I felt like I knew exactly what to say. I talked about how the world was confusing for Joseph Smith, how he had people/religions all around him telling him to pay attention here, or there. But as Joseph turned to the Lord, he found peace and God answered his sincere prayers. I know that we also need to turn Him, because this world is still confusing at times and there are so many things to distract us. But, I know that because of the gospel of Jesus Christ there is a way that leads to eternal happiness and we can also be happy right now, in this life.

That's about it for the week, my favorite scripture from the week in Ether 12:4.

Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with

surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the

right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an

anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure

and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led

to glorify God.

Have a great week! Sending lots of love from Hungary!

Sok

szeretettel, Schoendorfer Nővér